ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Coal
Western Coalfields Limited  to double rail despatch to meet coal demand
Western Coalfields Ltd. , a Subsidiary of Coal India Ltd. has drawn an ambitious roadmap to almost double its coal despatch capacity through rail mode to meet additional demand of consumers of Power Sector. Company has set ‘Mission 100 Days’ agenda to streamline activities to reach peak despatch of 50 rakes per day from January, 2021 with support from Railways.
WCL had recently offered additional coal to Power consumers of Central, West & South India at cheaper landed price. On discussion with State Gencos of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, NTPC & IPPs, WCL expects additional coal demand of around 25 Million Tonnes per annum from these consumers after getting swapped from other Subsidiaries of CIL & SCCL.
With expected substantial increase in demand, WCL has taken pro-active steps to gear up additional coal crushing, transporting & loading facility for increasing coal despatch through Rail to a level of 50 rakes per day from next January. This is under Mission 100 Days program starting from 5th September to 15th December,2020. This will increase average loading during the year to 40 rakes per day & peak of 50 rakes. Average of 2019-20 was 23 rakes & peak was 29 rakes per day. Current year average is 19 rakes per day due to less coal demand till now.
WCL despatches about 90% coal through Central Railway followed by SECR & SCR. Out of 50 rakes, 43-44 rakes will be through CR, 4-5 by SECR & 2 by SCR. In a discussion held with CR officials, a detailed roadmap has been drawn on maximum use of sidings, use of Goods Shed of Railways, availability of sufficient rakes & its timely loading. CR has assured all help to WCL in taking phenomenal leap of doubling rake despatch with Rail Coal Synergy.
All Area General Managers, concerned HODs have been sensitized to take immediate action to complete awarding of contracts for additional crushing & transporting of coal along with Weighbridges & maintenance of Roads between coal stock & sidings within next 100 days.
WCL had produced 57.6 Million Tonnes of coal & despatched 52.5 Million Tonnes of coal during 2019-20. With a coal stock of over 14 Million Tonnes in the beginning of 2020-21 & a production target of 62 Million Tonnes this year, Company will have more than 75 Million Tonnes of coal available for its consumers. WCL has planned to reach 75 Million Tonnes of production by 2023-24 followed by 100 Million Tonnes by 2026-27. With existing huge coal stock & increase in production in current fiscal & beyond, a huge jump is required in rake despatch to consumers to meet energy demand of the nation.
Prime Minister's Office
PM condoles loss of lives due to mishap at firecracker unit in Kancheepuram
Announces ex-gratia from PMNRF of Rs. 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs. 50,000 for those injured
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has condoled the loss of lives due to a mishap at a firecracker unit in Kancheepuram. The Prime Minister announced an ex-gratia from PMNRF of Rs. 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs. 50,000 for those injured.
The Prime Minister tweeted;
“Pained by the mishap at a firecracker unit in Kancheepuram. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. An ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. Rs. 50,000 would be given to the injured.”
Prime Minister's Office
PM meets officials from PMO and SPG
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today met and exchanged new year greetings with PMO officials and SPG personnel, at Lok Kalyan Marg. Over 1000 people were present at the interaction. The Prime Minister appreciated the good work being done by them, and encouraged them to keep up their efforts in future as well.
Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of message by H.E. Mr Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian federation, to participants and guests of the official ceremony marking the launch of a Russian-Indian joint venture for Kalashnikov assault rifle production
Dear friends!
I welcome you at the launch of the Russian-Indian enterprise for production of Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Military and technical cooperation has traditionally been one of the key areas of special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India. For more than seven decades, we have been supplying reliable and high-quality armaments and equipment to Indian friends. Around 170 military and industrial facilities have been set up in India with assistance from our country.
The new joint venture will manufacture world famous Kalashnikov assault rifles of the newest 200 series and eventually will reach full localization of production. Thus, the Indian defence-industrial sector will have the opportunity to fulfill the needs of national security agencies in this category of small arms, resting upon advanced Russian technologies.
Let me remind you that it was during my official visit to India last October that my counterpart and friend Mr Modi and I reached the agreement on setting up Kalashnikov production in this country. The respective intergovernmental agreement was prepared and signed in the shortest possible time. In this regard, I would like to express gratitude to Russian and Indian specialists, to all those who so promptly made this project happen.
I am convinced that commissioning of the new enterprise will contribute to stronger defence potential of India, to further advance of the scientific and industrial basis of the national economy, will be instrumental in terms of creating new jobs for qualified work force, and will provide an impetus to professional education and personnel training. The plant itself will become another symbol of friendship and constructive cooperation between our two countries.
I wish you every success and all the best.
AKT/ VJ
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Ministry of Power
NHPC registers 10% increase in Standalone Profit after Tax for the 9 months ended 31.12.22 & declares interim dividend of Rs 1.40 per share for FY 2022-23
NHPC has declared its Standalone and Consolidated unaudited Financial Results for the 3rd quarter and nine-months ended 31st December 2022. Standalone Profit after Tax has increased by 10% from Rs. 2978 crore during the nine-months ended 31st December, 2021 to Rs. 3264 crore for nine-months ended 31st December 2022. Consolidated Profit after tax for the nine-months has increased by 6% from Rs. 3056 crore to Rs. 3247 crore.
The Board of Directors has declared interim dividend of Rs 1.40 per share for the financial year 2022-23 in the Board Meeting held on 7th February, 2023 as against interim dividend of Rs.1.31 per share for the year 2021-22.
Prime Minister's Office
PM expresses grief over loss of lives due to plane accident in Kozhikode
The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi expressed grief over loss of lives due to the plane accident in Kozhikode.
In a tweet, the Prime Minister said, "Pained by the plane accident in Kozhikode. My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest. Spoke to Kerala CM @vijayanpinarayi Ji regarding the situation. Authorities are at the spot, providing all assistance to the affected."
Ministry of Finance
CBIC & CBDT sign MoU to facilitate smoother bilateral exchange of data
A Memorandum of Understanding  was signed between the Central Board of Direct Taxes  and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs  today, for data exchange between the two organisations. The MoU was signed by Shri Pramod Chandra Mody, Chairman, CBDT, and Shri M. Ajit Kumar, Chairman, CBIC, in the presence of senior officers from both the organizations.
This MoU supersedes the MoU signed between CBDT and the erstwhile Central Board of Excise and Customs  in the year 2015. Significant developments have taken place since the signing of earlier MoU in 2015 including introduction of GST, incorporation of GSTN and change in the nomenclature of Central Board of Excise and Customs  to Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs . Changed circumstances, including advancements in technology, are duly incorporated in the MoU signed today.
This MoU will facilitate the sharing of data and information between CBDT and CBIC on an automatic and regular basis. In addition to regular exchange of data, CBDT and CBIC will also exchange with each other, on request and spontaneous basis, any information available in their respective databases which may have utility for the other organisation.
The MoU comes into force from the date it was signed and is an ongoing initiative of CBDT and CBIC, who are already collaborating through various existing mechanisms. A Data Exchange Steering Group has also been constituted for the initiative, which will meet periodically to review the data exchange status and take steps to further improve the effectiveness of the data sharing mechanism.
The MoU marks the beginning of a new era of cooperation and synergy between the CBDT and CBIC.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
India’s COVID19 Vaccination Coverage increases to 33.28 cr
With 45,951 New Cases in the last 24 hours, India's Active Caseload  constitutes just 1.77% of Total Cases
Less than 50,000 Daily New Cases reported for three continuous days
Daily Positivity Rate  less than 5% for 23 consecutive days
India’s cumulative vaccination coverage has crossed 33 crore yesterday. A total of 33,28,54,527 vaccine doses have been administered through 44,33,853 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today. 36,51,983 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours.
These include:
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|
HCWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,02,08,162
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
72,43,081
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,74,84,539
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
94,80,633
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|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
9,00,61,716
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|
2nd Dose
|
|
20,87,331
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|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
8,82,70,464
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|
2nd Dose
|
|
1,59,11,279
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|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
6,79,88,719
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|
2nd Dose
|
|
2,41,18,603
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|
Total
|
|
33,28,54,527
The new phase of universalization of COVID19 vaccination commenced from 21 June, 2021. The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID19 vaccination throughout the country.
India has reported 45,951 new cases in the last 24 hours.
Less than 50,000 Daily New Cases have been reported since three continuous days. This is a result of sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs.
India has also been witnessing a continuous fall in the active caseload. The country’s Active Caseload today stands at 5,37,064 today.
A net decline of 15,595 is witnessed in the last 24 hours and active cases are now only 1.77% of the country's total Positive Cases.
As more people are getting recovered from COVID-19 infection, India’s Daily Recoveries continue to outnumber the Daily New Cases for 48 consecutive days now. 60,729 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours.
More than 14,000  recoveries were reported during the last 24 hours as compared to the daily new cases.
Out of the people infected since the beginning of the pandemic, 2,94,27,330 people have already recovered from COVID-19 and 60,729 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. This constitutes an overall recovery rate of 96.92%, which is showing a sustained increasing trend.
With substantially ramped up testing capacity across the country, a total of 19,60,757 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in the country. Cumulatively, India has conducted over 41.01 crore  tests so far.
While on one side testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, a continued decline in weekly case positivity is noticed. Weekly Positivity Rate is currently at 2.69% while the Daily Positivity rate stands at 2.34% today. It has remained less than 5% for 23 consecutive days now.
Prime Minister's Office
PM to inaugurate 3rd Session of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction on 10th March
The theme of the session is “Building Local Resilience in a Changing Climate”
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 3rd Session of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction  at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 10th March, 2023 at 4:30 PM. The main theme of the 3rd session of this Platform is “Building Local Resilience in a Changing Climate”.
During the event, Prime Minister will felicitate awardees of the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar. The winners of the 2023 Puraskar are Odisha State Disaster Management Authority  and the Lunglei Fire Station, Mizoram. Prime Minister will also inaugurate the exhibition for showcasing the innovative ideas and initiatives, tools and technologies in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction .
NPDRR is a multi-stakeholder platform constituted by the Government of India to facilitate dialogue, sharing experiences, views, ideas, action-oriented research & explore opportunities in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction.
Prime Minister's Office
PM pays homage to Bapu and all those who took part in Dandi March
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid homage to Bapu and all those who took part in the Dandi March.
In a tweet, the Prime Minister said;
"I pay homage to Bapu and all those who took part in the Dandi March. This was an important event in our nation’s history. It will be remembered as a determined effort against various forms of injustice."
Ministry of Defence
Selection Trial for Direct Enrolment of Meritorious Sportsmen in the Rank of Havildar in the Army into ASC Centre  - 2 ATC, Bangalore-07
Selection trials for Direct Enrolment of Meritorious sportsmen  with age 171/2 to 22 years of age as on 31 Dec 2021 with education qualification matriculation or equivalent examination who have represented State/ Country in National/ International completions either at Senior or at Junior level University Sports Board or represented the State School teams in the National Sports or Games for School conducted by the All India School teams in the rank of Havildar in the Army into ASC Sports Teams of  at ASC Centre  – 2 ATC, Bangalore wef04 Mar 2021. For any details, please contact 8277123122.
AA/BSC/VBY
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Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Cabinet approves extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana  for another four months 
The food grain under Phase V would entail an estimated food subsidy of Rs. 53,344.52 Crore
The total outgo of foodgrains in Phase V is expected to 163 LMT
After successful completion of Phase IV, Phase V will begin from December 1, 2021
Food grains at 5 kg per person per month free of cost for all the beneficiaries covered under the NFSA will be continued till March, 2022
In pursuance of the pro-people announcement made by Prime Minister in his address to nation on 07.06.2021 and as part of the Economic Response to COVID -19, the Union Cabinet has approved the extension for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana  for a period of another 4 months i.e. December 2021 till March 2022 @ 5 kg per person per month free of cost for all the beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act  [Antodaya Anna Yojana & Priority Households] including those covered under Direct Benefit Transfer .
Phase-I and Phase-II of this scheme was operational from April to June, 2020 and July to November, 2020 respectively. Phase-III of the scheme was operational from May to June, 2021. Phase-IV of the scheme is currently operational for July-November, 2021 months.
The PMGKAY scheme for Phase V from December 2021 till March, 2022 would entail an estimated additional food subsidy of Rs. 53344.52 Crore
The total outgo in terms of food-grains for PMGKAY Phase V is likely to be about 163 LMT.
It may be recalled that in the wake of economic disruptions caused by the unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 in the country last year, the Government in March 2020 had announced the distribution of additional free-of-cost foodgrains  to about 80 Crore National Food Security Act  beneficiaries at the scale of 5 Kg per person per month under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana , over and above the regular monthly NFSA foodgrains i.e., regular entitlements of their ration cards, so that the poor, needy and the vulnerable households/beneficiaries do not suffer on account of non-availability of adequate foodgrains during the times of economic crisis. So far, under the PM-GKAY the Department had allocated a total of almost 600 LMT foodgrains to the States/UTs equivalent to about Rs. 2.07 Lakh Crore in food subsidy.
The distribution under PMGKAY-IV is presently ongoing, and as per the reports available from States/UTs so far, 93.8% foodgrains have been lifted and nearly 37.32 LMT , 37.20 LMT , 36.87 LMT , 35.4 LMT  and 17.9 LMT  foodgrains have been distributed to about 74.64 Crore, 74.4 Crore, 73.75 Crore, 70.8 Crore and 35.8 crore beneficiaries respectively.
Going by the experience of earlier phases, the performance of PMGKAY-V is also expected to be on the same high level as achieved before.
Overall, the government will be incurring an expenditure of nearly Rs.2.60 lakh Crore in PMGKAY Phase I- V.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Retirement Under 56-J
As per the information/data provided by different Ministries/Departments/Cadre Controlling Authorities , provisions of FR 56/similar provisions have been invoked against 90 Group-A officers and 80 Group-B officers in last two years. The year-wise break up is as under:
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Category of Central Government officers
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|
Year- 2019
|
|
Year-2020
|
|
Total
|
|
Group A
|
|
82
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|
8
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90
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|
Group B
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|
67
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13
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80
This information was provided by Union Minister of State  Development of North Eastern Region , MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.
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SNC
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Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh witnesses Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s interaction with farmers from Shikohpur village in Haryana
Union Agriculture Minister exhorts farmers to accelerate their pace of income generation by adopting new technologies
Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi interacted with farmers across the country through video bridge today. Crores of farmers listened in rapt attention to the interaction which was held through KVKs in 600 districts and Common Service Centre in 2 lakh villages. The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh witnessed this interaction with farmers in Shikohpur village in Haryana.
Interacting with the Hon’ble Prime Minister, beneficiaries of various agricultural schemes explained how various government schemes helped improve production. Beneficiaries also highlighted the importance of Soil Health Card and shared their experiences of cooperative movement.
The Union Agriculture Minister said it was heartening to listen to stories on how farmers across the nation have increased their income through Soil Health Card, Micro Irrigation, Value Addition, eNAM, FPO alongside Animal Husbandry, Fisheries & Poultry. Farmers also shared stories on how they have doubled their income by adopting integrated farming.
Shri Singh exhorted farmers to accelerate the pace of their income generation by adopting new technologies. He also said that along with KVKs, ATMA officials will have to work together to bring new technology to our fields. Farmers from across the nation expressed their gratitude to the Hon’ble Prime Minister for his guidance in the interaction.
Ministry of Education
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to inaugurate Conference on Academic Leadership on Education for Resurgence on 29th September, 2018 in New Delhi
A Conference on Academic Leadership on Education for Resurgence is being organized on 29th September, 2018 in Vigyan Bhawan in which the Vice-Chancellors/Directors from more than 350 universities are participating. This event is being organized jointly by UGC, AICTE, ICSSR, IGNCA, IGNOU, JNU and SGT University.
The theme of the Conference is to deliberate on the challenges facing the Indian education system and to work out a plan for a paradigm shift both in terms of achieving academic outcomes and also in regulation of education.
The Conference is being inaugurated in the morning by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi which will be followed by breakout sessions covering eight thematic areas namely:
- Improving pedagogy for learner centric education – use of artificial intelligence for customized learning
- From job seeking to job creating – improving innovation and entrepreneurship
- Improving quality of research – focus on requirements of India
- Bringing synergy among educational institutions – pooling of academic resources like sharing of libraries and exchange of knowledge
- Building inclusive and integrated campuses – taking up activities which could bring emotional attachments of students to the campus
- Participatory Governance models – facilitating participation of students in governance processes
- Building robust financial models – supplementing Government resources by getting funds from alumni and also from corporate 
- Promoting value education by building in universal values and life skills into education.
The valedictory session will be chaired by Shri Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Human Resource Development in which each of the eight groups will make presentation on the course of action that they have agreed upon. This will be debated further in the Plenary Session and it is expected that a comprehensive action plan would emerge for improving the higher education sector in the country.
This Conference is in continuation of the efforts being made by the Ministry for evolving an action plan for transformation of the higher education sector. The first among this was held in Delhi during Vice-Chancellors’ Conference from 26-28 July, 2018.
President's Secretariat
President of India Presents Padma Awards 2022
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind presented two Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and fifty-four Padma Shri Awards for the year 2022 at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-I held at Rashtrapati Bhavan today .
Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were the Vice President of India, Prime Minister and Union Minister for Home Affairs.
Click here to see the list of Awardees of the ceremony.
Padma Awardees
Ministry of Finance
DRI seizes 155 kgs of Hashish
In its continued crackdown on smuggling of narcotic drugs into India, the officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence  in two different cases in October, 2021 have seized 155 kg of Hashish which had been smuggled into India from Nepal and was being transported to the hinterland.
In the first case on 7th October 2021, DRI officers intercepted a Renault Duster car on the Hapur-Meerut road. Thorough examination of the said car resulted in the seizure of 85 kg of high-quality Hashish which had been ingeniously concealed in a specially built cavity under the boot of the Duster car. The cavity could only be accessed through special tools which were found hidden at three different places in the car. The Two persons, including the owner of the vehicle were arrested.
In the second case on 29th October 2021, DRI officers intercepted a Mahindra Bolero Pick-up truck in Ramraj town  near Bijnor. Thorough examination of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of 70 kg of high- quality Hashish which was concealed in a specially created cavity near the driver-side of the carriage body of the vehicle. The delivery of the hashish had been made to a dealer who was arrested along with the drugs. The person arrested is a history-sheeter and had been arrested earlier by Uttar Pradesh  in a case involving seizure of 55 kg Hashish in 2018.
Further investigations are being carried out.